Totem Pole (Tasmania)

The Totem Pole is a slender sea stack on the Tasman Peninsula of Tasmania, a needle of dolerite rising around 65 metres straight from the swirling ocean at Cape Hauy. Barely a few metres wide, it is one of the most photographed and coveted climbing objectives in the country.

Climbing it is committing sea-stack adventure on columnar dolerite, reached by abseiling to a wave-washed ledge and then climbing back up the slender pillar, often gaining the stack via a Tyrolean traverse from the mainland cliff. The classic free line goes at a solid grade in the mid-20s Australian scale, roughly HVS to E-grade in British terms, on steep, exposed rock above the sea. Timing the swell, managing the tension traverse and the airy position make it as much an experience as a technical test.

The season is the Tasmanian summer, roughly November to March, when calmer seas and better weather ease the exposed access; the peninsula's weather can turn quickly at any time.

Access is via a coastal walk to Cape Hauy in Tasman National Park, followed by a steep descent and the committing traverse onto the stack. The dolerite sea cliffs of the peninsula, among the tallest in the southern hemisphere, provide a spectacular backdrop.

The stack became internationally known through Paul Pritchard's book Deep Play and his near-fatal accident here in 1998, a story that only deepened its mystique. For experienced trad climbers, the Totem Pole is a benchmark adventure, its impossibly thin silhouette above the Tasman Sea drawing skilled climbers from around the world to test themselves on one of the ocean's most striking pillars.